Chemical attack in Syria before UN

72 KILLED: DRAFT RESOLUTION DEMANDS FULL PROBE

Call for work to begin immediately to identify perpetrators of latest onslaught.

Britain, France and the US on Tuesday presented a draft resolution to the United Nations (UN) Security Council condemning the suspected chemical attack in Syria and demanding a full investigation.

The text called on the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to report quickly on the findings of its fact-finding mission on the attack that killed at least 72 civilians including children in a rebel-held town in Idlib province.

The measure was circulated to the 15 council members on the eve of an emergency meeting requested by France and Britain to discuss the attack carried out in the early hours on Tuesday in the town of Khan Sheikhun.

Britain, France and the US are pushing for a vote on the draft text during the meeting today, but it remained unclear if Russia would support it, diplomats said.

The draft resolution “condemns in the strongest terms the use of chemical weapons” in Syria, in particular the attack on Khan Sheikhun and expresses “outrage” over the use of toxic gases in the six-year war. It requests that the joint UN-OPCW investigative panel set up to determine who is responsible for chemical attacks in Syria begin work immediately to identify the perpetrators of the latest attack.

Britain, France and the US blame President Bashar al-Assad’s forces for the attack, but the Syrian Army has denied any involvement. At least 11 children were among the dead, and dozens more civilians suffered respiratory problems and symptoms including vomiting, fainting and foaming at the mouth, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. –